Girls league
by runninggirlstories
Summary: I'm just a very normal girl with a very normal life except for the fact that I had a opportunity to became a professional athlete. And so I'll never give up on that dream.
1. Prolog

**Believe me, if you hurt yourself, you have to heal the injury properly.**  
I have pretty much experience with it.  
I was a regular fifteen-year-old girl from the Czech republic. Well, almost a regular one. I lived with my family. Parents and my two younger brothers. I also had an older brother, but he moved out right after graduating from high school. Our parents were always quite ambitious, putting big pressure on all of us. They said, we all were supposed to be pro sportspeople one day.

Then about me. At the time, I just started attending high school. And the most obvious thing that made me different from my classmates was my height. Despite being only fifteen, I was slightly over 180 centimeters (5' 11") tall. On the one hand, it was a big advantage on my way to becoming a professional athlete. But on the other hand, it was quite a handicap in real life. I played volleyball. I started when I was eight, and I desperately fell in love with it. I started as a middle in the so-called "village league" as later I managed to get to the national junior league. Not as the middle anymore, but I started playing the setter. Soon after I turned fifteen, I got an offer. I was scouted for the U19 semiprofessional national team to play the European junior league. I was super excited about it as my (and my parents') dream of becoming a pro was closer than I expected.  
But things like that only happen in teenage drama movies and light novels.  
Just a few weeks after starting the practice with my new team, things started going wrong. I jammed my knee in practice. It wasn't a serious injury, but it was limiting for me. I didn't care. I didn't tell anyone and keep practicing, ignoring the pain. After some time the ligaments went back to normal, and I didn't feel any pain anymore. At least that's what I thought. It took a bit more for me to learn the lesson. After some days, it happened again. But this time, I fell, not being able to get up by myself anymore. The menisci in my left knee tore. It required two surgeries and over half a year of rehabilitation and resting the leg. It was devastating.  
And I thought I will never be able to catch up to my team anymore.  
My parents decided that it would be good for me to take a year off. And so they send me to study abroad.

_ Well, I'm not sure it was a good idea._


	2. Jedna

**Never wanted to do that, but once the time comes, you have to do it as fast as possible.**

"So, my name is Thea B. Michelakis. I'm from the Czech Republic. I'm 16 years old and I'm here as an exchange student for a year." The girl said without a single hint of excitement. She fixed her glasses and run her hand through her jet black hair, so black so in sunlight you could see blue accents. She felt clearly uncomfortable in the tight school uniform and a short skirt. "The best way to start a new life," she muttered as all her new classmates were scanning her with their eyes. "Have you never seen a European?" She sighed so no one would hear her. She was a bit skeptical about these kids, she was quite sure that most of them didn't even understand English. She sent a pleading look to the homeroom teacher, just waiting for permission to take a seat. The teacher was coming through some papers on his desk, as if he'd forgotten about Thea or maybe he was waiting for her to say a bit more. Thea was quite used to and a bit ready to draw a lot of attention, but right now, there were too many things bothering her including the fact that she was still using crutches to move around. She just wanted to sit down, take a deep breath and keep playing that "cool kid" role she assigned herself. After a minute of silent glaring at the teacher, he finally said: "So guys, do you have any questions for Miss Michelakis?" Thea stopped all potential issues by the deadly look on her face. "If that's the case, you can take your seat now. And be careful about the bags on the floor." He said, pointing at the chair in the back row near the window. She just rolled her eyes. The note wasn't really necessary. Once she got to her place she put her crutches to the aisle and turned off the world. The teacher started talking Japanese and she didn't really need to listen anymore.

"Uhm, hi, Miss Michelakis. Miss Michelakis?" Thea's thoughts were pulled apart by an unknown broken English.  
"Huh, hey?" she replied. She rubbed her eyes, setting her glasses.  
"My name is Takishima Haruka is a pleasure to meet you. Well, it's a lunch break now, and my friends and I were wondering if you would want to eat your lunch with us." a short girl with dark hair and dark eyes was standing next to her desk with a huge blush on her face. Her accent was kind of funny and her voice was a very high pitch. Thea waited with her answer for a bit. She wasn't expecting that someone would want to socialize with her after the way how she introduced herself. She decided to keep the role. She replied with a cold voice and her fluent English, almost as if she would want to embarrass the other girl.  
"I really appreciated your offer, but I'll be better on my own."  
The other girl frowned a bit, then she bowed slightly and run away without any other words. Thea was quite grateful that the girl woke her up so she could eat her lunch. She unpacked her lunch box and started eating the meal her host granny prepared for her. She lived with an elderly couple whose kids were already adults having their own children. They were very nice to her, the only problem was the language barrier. Neither one of them could speak English at all. But she still managed to get by somehow with just a body language.

No one was trying to approach her that day anymore and she was thankful for it. Thea needed some time for herself, which was the main reason why she left her home.  
She was trying to keep the people away with all the insolence she had. She didn't even hesitate to insult someone.

Once the weekend came Thea was notified that one of her host grandparents' kid's family is going to pay them a visit on Sunday. Thea was a bit anxious about it as she was afraid of their questions. She wasn't scared of Mrs. Suki, or Suki-baa-san, as she was told to call her, or Mr. Kemmei, whom she was told to refer as Kemmei-jii-san. They weren't curious about her life back in the Czech Republic, or if they were, they weren't able to ask her. On the other hand, she was quite excited because she hadn't had a proper talk with a real person for quite a long time. She hoped to meet someone with a decent knowledge of English.

Thea felt useless. She wanted to help the old women preparing lunch. But as her leg wasn't healed yet, she couldn't even set the table. Lately, she didn't know what to do. She was brought up as an athlete. When she was bored she would usually go out to play with a ball or just go jogging. She spent a lot of time watching Mrs. Suki doing housework, or she read in the living room. She couldn't wait for her leg to mend finally.  
On Sunday, Thea was trying to be useful by finding some aesthetic way of folding serviettes for the prepared family dinner. As she was sitting by the table, playing with the napkins, the doorbell rang. She leaped from the chair rushing to her room, as fast as her crutches were able to go. She just realized that she forgot to change in some more formal clothes.

_Pathetic._


	3. Dva

**Just how miserable can a human being be?**

Thea heard her name being called, and she responded. "Yeah, comin'!" She yelled back, putting black leggings on. She convinced herself that she'd better look at least a bit representing. She slowly made her way downstairs and entered the living room. "Welcome, I'm sorry I'm late." She said, bowing slightly. She already got used to this bowing. She found it a bit funny, but on the other hand, it was quite reasonable. "Ah, Thea..." granny wanted to tell me something, but she realized it'd be pointless. So she just pointed at the free armchair next to the sofa. Thea just nodded and took the seat. On the couch, there were two people. A man in his middle forties and a woman around the same age. The man was quite tall, around Thea's height, and he had dark hair and eyes. But the woman didn't look like a hundred percent Japanese. Her hair was a bit too light, as well as her eyes.

"Hello Thea, it's nice to meet you." The woman said she said smoothly in English. She didn't even have much of that weird Japanese accent.  
"Nice to meet you too." She replied timidly. The woman presented herself as Ami and the man, her husband, as Ryota. She said that Ryota was Suki's and Kemmei's son. And then she started questioning Thea.  
"So, can you tell me something about your family?" Ami asked.  
"Well, I'm the second of four kids." She started hesitatingly. " I have three brothers. My mum's Russian and she was a ballerina. Now she's a ballet teacher. My dad's not from the Czech Republic as well. He was a basketball player back in Greece, and now he's a high-school teacher of P.E. and Maths." She said the prepared phrase.  
"Oh, it has to be hard to be the only girl. I have my own experience having a husband and two sons under one roof." She giggled.  
"Until it was all of us, it was quite complicated. Boys were complaining about me having my own room and so. But since Damián, my older brother, moved away, it's not so much of a battlefield anymore." I also smiled.  
"By the way, Thea, as you're from a bilingual family, how many languages do you speak then?" She asked curiously. "Languages are one of the things I'm really good at. So I can speak five. My parents' languages, Russian and Greek, the language of my country, Czech, and the languages we learn at school, English, and Spanish."  
Ami was taken aback by Thea's casual statement. "Wow, that's so cool."  
Thea sighed. "Yeah, it's just that languages really are my strong point. My brothers struggle to learn it all. Boby and Vily, the younger ones, have problems talking to our grandparents at all."  
This time Ami smiled. "That feels impossible to know it all." She said.  
"Yeah, it does. But regardless of my language talent, I suck in all other subjects. Well, maybe I can tell I like biology, but just the part about the human body." Thea chuckled.  
She was aware of the fact that she was talking a bit too much. But she was happy to have someone to talk to once in a while. And also, Ami seemed to enjoy Thea's story.  
"So do you have any plans for your future? Like where to go for uni or so?" She asked another question.  
"It wasn't that hard for me to find out. Parents always led us all to become athletes. Damián became an NHL player and moved abroad soon after graduating. And I hope to be a professional volleyball player one day. If I won't be able to do so..." she turned her sight to her knee and clenched her fist. "...I'll be a physiotherapist."  
Ami smiled comfortingly. "Your parents seem very ambitious about their kids, don't they?" She laughed softly. " By the way, I like volleyball too. Both of our sons play. Oh, that reminds me... the younger one, is coming for dinner as well. He's around your age attending the same school. I thought it'd be benefitting for you two to be aware of each other's existence."  
Thea was grateful that Ami didn't mention anything about the two of them becoming friends or so. Just acquaint some other person's presence should not be a problem for her.  
"Sounds great." She appreciated the older woman's mindfulness.

_People don't always have to be so bad, though. _


	4. Tři

**Let's take it easy. Just for once.**

Thea was answering Ami's questions for some more time. Then the older women joined the other adult's conversation, so Thea was left out. It would be too impolite to take off her phone now. So she decided to listen to their discussion, trying to catch some words. Although she was a quick learner, she didn't manage to follow Japanese yet. It was far different from the European languages. It represented one of the biggest challenges of Thea's stay. She was sitting in the comfy armchair, occasionally checking the sports watch on her right wrist. After some time, the doorbell rang again. Ami said something to grannies, standing up, leaving the room. She returned a bit later with a tall boy, her younger son, following her.  
He said: "Good evening." Greetings were one of the very few phrases Thea managed to understand. He had light hair and eyes which resembled her of Ami. On the other hand, he was lanky, just like Ryota. His face, framed with thick black glasses, looked dull.  
Suki said something, and everyone started getting up. "Ta-be-ru." She looked at Thea.  
"Yeah, yeah, okay." The girl replied. She knew that it meant "to eat".  
She stood up, taking her crouches, and following others next door. Everybody took their seats, and Thea sat on the last empty chair. Right next to that boy. She wasn't really interested in starting a conversation. But she at least wanted to know the boy's name.  
"Hey, I'm Thea B. Michelakis," she said listlessly.  
"Oh yeah, I've already heard about you. I'm Tsukishima Kei, just by the way." He answered with the same level of enthusiasm. His English was quite good. Not as good as his mother's, but way better than most Japanese kids their age. And that's where their conversation ended that night.

The next day Thea went to school with a clear mind. It was the first day she had to walk. It wasn't that far, but the school was up on the hill.  
"Who'd ever build a school on a hill?" Thea muttered in Czech.  
"Ohayō |Mornin'|, Michelakis-San." An unfamiliar voice caught her attention.  
She stopped looking around, catching a glimpse of a short boy.  
"Ohayō," she replied politely and started walking again.  
"Let me take your bag," he insisted on starting a conversation.  
His accent amused her.  
"I'm just fine, thanks." Thea rejected his offer even though it was quite uncomfortable to carry a backpack with crouches.  
"Okay," he didn't object. "By the way, my name is Nishinoya Yū and we're in the same class. I just wanted to tell you how cool it is to be so tall. Although you're a girl."  
She was a bit surprised by his statement, not knowing how to react. She took her time, thinking about the most reasonable response.  
"Well, I'm an athlete so I need to be tall." She said indifferently. "Oh, really? So cool. What sport do you do?" His eyes started glowing. Thea thought that the only adjective he knew was "cool". Thea wasn't in the mood for that kind of conversation. She stopped her stride for a second. "You see, right now I can't do any sports..." She sighed, plugged in her earphones, which were previously dangling from the neckline of her shirt. The boy got the message and sped up, getting far ahead of her. By the time Thea reached the school gate, the boy was probably already sitting in the class. Thea was never good at remembering names.  
The day was awfully boring and monotonous. But just until the lunch break. The lesson of Japanese literature was more of a sleeping period for Thea. She was looking out of the window, spacing out. The thing that woke her from her daydreaming was a loud voice.  
"Michelakis-san..."  
It was the same boy as this morning. That Niwhatever Yū.  
"Can you please stop calling me that? I hate being addressed by my last name, and your pronunciation is off." She sighed.  
"Eh, okay..." the boy was surprised. "How should I call you then?"  
"I mean, just Thea is fine." she shrugged her shoulders. "By the way, did you want something?" She raised her eyes to see his face.  
"Oh, I came to ask if you would want to eat lunch with me and some of my friends." He said with a sparkling face. Is he made of glitters or what? Thea thought. She was hesitating at first, but then she replied.  
"I don´t see why not." The boy was looking confused. "That means yes," she rolled her eyes.

_I don´t have a clue why I agreed to this._


End file.
